More local companies are turning to big data in an attempt to drive growth and sales figures in the country’s increasingly competitive business environment. This comes at a time when more corporations across the country are turning to new technology such as cloud computing that has gained prominence in more developed economies.
Last week, Kenya Power became the latest firm on a growing list by announcing that it has adopted business analytics to cut back on power outages and improve its distribution network.
With Kenya expecting to see its power capacity increase to 5,000 megwatts from about 1,700 megawatts over the next 24 months, Kenya Power estimates that its consumer base will increase by one million.
This presents new challenges to provide connections to supply this demand and hence the necessary adoption of data analytics systems and software. “The analytics solution gives us the ability to rapidly perform complex queries on data,” noted Kenya Power Chief Executive Officer Ben Chumo.
“We can better understand the varying needs of our customers across different regions in Kenya based on customer buying behaviour and manage the power grids more efficiently in specific areas during certain times of the day.”
Growing demand
Data from a recent research by consulting firm IDG Connect indicates that Kenya and Nigerian firms lead sub-Saharan Africa in the adoption of big data solutions.
The report, which investigated readiness to adopt big data solutions and the availability of skills and services, indicated that 64 per cent of firms interviewed in Kenya were already at the planning, pilot or live stages of big data projects.
Big data allows companies to capture and organise a wide range of data types from different sources, and to analyse it within the context of all their enterprise data.
This can range from consumer complaints on social media to company reports and press coverage, drawing patterns and trends that can provide business leaders with the ability to make informed, crucial decisions based on accurate data.
The growing demand for big data solutions in the country has seen intense competition between service providers and vendors including IBM, Intel, Oracle and SAP.
IBM, which chose Nairobi as the location of its first research lab in Africa and officially opened it earlier this year, won the partnership to provide Kenya Power with business analytics software and services. IBM says the new system will consolidate data from ten operational sources to provide a single view of enterprise data.
This will enable Kenya Power to study and compare real time and historical data to better monitor business operations and trends, and anticipate future electrical needs. “Efficient energy distribution is a key component to the continued growth of this economy. Technology has the unique ability to help companies like Kenya Power leverage big data to gain deeper insights of their customers and power grids,” said IBM East Africa General Manager Nik Nesbitt.
“IBM is continuously extending its capabilities to empower businesses in this region and across Africa, with tools to intelligently instrument and innovate their processes in order to help them work smarter.”
Real-time analytics can further be accessed through cloud computing, allowing executives working remotely to use mobile devices to view data pooled from all corners of the company.
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